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Amiga & AROS Archive

Interview: AROS Developer Nick ‘Kalamatee’ Andrews

The AROS Show has interviewed Nick 'Kalamatee' Andrews. Nick discusses a variety projects he has worked on for AROS during his 10 years with the project and various other topics. "There's a few things I personally could use that I feel would greatly improve the AROS user experience - a decent standards compliant web browser, reworking the existing data types to support streamed data, a decent media player, productivity tools (word processing packages and so on) - let's face it, there's tons of apps we could really benefit from."

Hyperion Replies to Amiga Accusations

Hyperion has replied to the litigation started by Amiga Inc. "Whilst it is not Hyperion Entertainment’s policy to comment on ongoing litigation, we would like to reassure our customers that development of AmigaOS 4.0 related components is still ongoing and will continue apace during the duration of the litigation with Amiga Inc. We welcome the opportunity to finally present our case in a court of law which was regrettably the only remaining avenue after Amiga Inc. repeatedly and consistently stonewalled any attempt to resolve the outstanding issues. In closing, we would like to remind dealers and other third parties that distribution of Amiga OS 4.0 without the prior permission of Hyperion VOF and certain third party developers is illegal under EU, US and international copyright legislation and therefore entirely at their own risk."

Entry Level Design Details From ACK Controls, Amiga

As promised, Amiga Inc. has released the specifications of the low end Amiga machine which will be available this summer. It will have the Flex-ATX form factor, with a Freescale PC8349E SoC (400MHz to 667MHz depending on requirements and price target), one DDR2 DIMM slot for a maximum of 1GB of memory, and more. It will cost USD 489. Manufacturing partner and final ship schedule will be following soon. The device is supposed to run AmigaOS 4, but the recent developments may interfere with that.

Amiga Sues Hyperion for Trademark Infringment

Amiga, Inc. has terminated the contract with Hyperion and Eyetech on 20th December, and has sued Hyperion for copyright infringement on 26th April. Discussion about this trademark suit can be read on AmigaWorld; maybe the community can clear up what is going on here, because I lost track long ago. Update: A detailed description of the suit has appeared. Amiga Inc. is accusing Hyperion of trademark infringement, but also of breach of the agreement the companies signed among one another. According to Amiga Inc., the agreement said that Hyperion would exercise its 'best efforts' to release AmigaOS 4 by March 1st, 2002. They obviously failed that date (AOS4 was released 24th December 2006), and hence Amiga Inc. says the contract was broken. Exhibits included.

Amiga Inc Note to Dealers

More information is trickling out about the new Amiga hardware. In an email to Amiga dealers, Bill McEwen, CEO of Amiga, Inc., writes: "As mentioned in the press release we are in the final stages with the design of new hardware and getting them into production. Something that will be different than what happened with the AmigaOne is that we will be purchasing these new machines in the more than 1,000 units per order. This will allow us to get better pricing and quality for all of you. The specs for the sub 500.00 machines will be out on Monday and the more expensive machine the following week. Production will begin soon and they will be ready this summer."

New Amiga Hardware Announced

They better check that thermostat down in hell, because, believe it or not, AmigaOS4 has found a computer to run on - a computer which we will actually be able to buy. I kid you not. "After months of designs and negotiations Amiga, Inc. and ACK Software Controls, Inc. are pleased to announce that new hardware is on its way for Amiga users. Initially, two systems will be produced that address two different market needs. The first is a consumer entry design that will offer a complete product with a target price point of USD 500, while the second will be of a power design that would have a target price point of USD 1500. The PowerPC architecture will continue to be the architecture of choice for these new systems. Manufacturing and final price information along with product launch schedules will be following in the next week." Sure they can fly.

AbiWord 2.5.1 for AmigaOS4 Released, Includes KHTML Browser

AbiWord 2.5.1 has been released for AmigaOS4 using Cygnix. Besides AbiWord's usual word processing features, this package also includes a KHTML-based browser for AmigaOS4. "Additionally, for displaying the online help files the KHTML based browser, 'osb-browser', is included! This browser has following features: standards compliant (x)html rendering engine with CSS support; Javascript support; SSL support."

AROS Gets Themeing Support, USB Keyboard Driver

The AROS team has published a new status update with a list of improvements. Another important step in AROS customization has been done. Darius Brewka and Georg Steger have added a new decor system to Wanderer, allowing user to edit and change themes. Damir Sijakovic's ICE theme has been used as an example and it is now the default theme for AROS nightly builds. In addition, a USB keyboard driver has been committed, among other things.

Amiga OS4 Finds New Hardware Partner

"Hyperion Entertainment and ACube Systems are pleased to announce that they have entered into a strategic partnership following a recent two day meeting of representatives of both companies in Brussels, Belgium. Within the framework of the partnership ACube will act as a worldwide distributor of Hyperion's Amiga OS 4.0 operating system for a range of PPC hardware platforms including AmigaOne (MicroA1, SE/XE) and Classic Amiga. More details regarding the companies' strategic partnership will be announced shortly."

AROS Gets Initial USB Support

"Dr Michal Schulz has made an initial commit of the AROS USB stack, enabling the use of USB mice and creating the foundations to add support, subsequently, also for other devices. Please notice this is pre-alpha stage software, this means only USB 1.1 UHCI controllers are supported for now, and maybe it won't work correctly on your motherboard. Next thing to develop will be extensions to USBHID class, allowing to use graphic tablets and USB keyboards with AROS, and OHCI controllers support. We must note that support for USB 2.0 EHCI controllers wasn't defined in bounty Michal is working on."

Interview: AROS Developer Pavel ‘Sonic’ Fedin

The AROS Show has interviewed AROS and MorphOS developer Pavel 'Sonic' Fedin. He talks about his work on VESA, parallel.device API and more. When asked about AmigaOS 4, he replies: "Don't know what to tell here, my opinion is split up. At the one hand it's nice to see that someone develops something, and it's just interesting by itself. At the other hand their politics seems very aggressive to me, they tend to 'close up' their community and ditch everyone else."

AROS Status Update

The AROS team has published a new status update with a list of improvements. Wanderer now has initial support for drag and drop, along with stability improvements. Tap interface is available for networking under a hosted linux installation. The main website has been translated into Dutch, and RTL8139 and VIA Rhine network adapters drivers have also been committed. Plus various new and updated apps Lunapaint, Martin's Server Suite, Jhead and Potrace.

Interview: Robert Norris, AROS Developer

The new AROS Developer Robert Norris has been interviewed by the AROS Show. "One of the original goals for AROS was 100% compatibility with AmigaOS 3.1. This is a noble goal, but it's not particularly forward-looking. AmigaOS has moved on since then, and there will be no new m68k hardware, yet many AROS developers are intent on making sure everything they do can be made to work on the older systems. That's their perogative of course, but my concern is that by constantly looking backwards we're missing the opportunities in the future."

Genesi: ‘We Will Release Both AmigaOS4 and MorphOS’

Genesi has 'announced' it is going to release AmigaOS4 for their EFIKA motherboard as soon as the next release of MorphOS is released. "We have clearly indicated in this thread, we don't need Hyperion's support to port OS4 to the EFIKA - legally or technically." True to the Amiga scene of the last few years, a discussion spanning 300 posts ensued. My take: I actually advocated 'porting' AmigaOS4 to Genesi hardware last year, but I do hope it all happens within the boundaries of the law and that the developers get what they deserve. Update: The latest post asks an interesting question.

Ars Reviews AmigaOS 4

The Amiga is alive - sort of, and AmigaOS 4 is finally out. Ars takes AmigaOS 4 out for a spin to see where the once-popular platform stands these days. "The release of AmigaOS 4 proves one thing: you can't keep a good platform down. But is AmigaOS merely a fun hobby OS to play around with, or does it offer real value? My answer is that it is a little of both. As a fan of alternative platforms, you won't find many that are more esoteric than AmigaOS. But beyond being different for the sake of being different, OS4 provides something more interesting: a chance to experience a whole new way of computing."